TY - JOUR
T1 - Response of Nebraska Sand Hills natural vegetation to drought, fire, grazing, and plant functional type shifts as simulated by the Century model
AU - Mangan, Jennifer M.
AU - Overpeck, Jonathan T.
AU - Webb, Robert S.
AU - Wessman, Carol
AU - Goetz, Alexander F.H.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Dennis Ojima and Bill Parton for helpful discussions that improved our modeling approach. Robin Kelly and Cindy Keough of the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL) at Colorado State University provided invaluable assistance with the CENTURY model. Gilbert Compo of the Climate Data Center at NOAA assisted with questions about statistical concerns. Computer support for this project was provided by the Center for the Study of Earth from Space at the University of Colorado. Support for this research came from the NASA Land Cover Land Use Change (LCLUC) program and the NOAA Paleoclimatology program.
PY - 2004/3
Y1 - 2004/3
N2 - The Nebraska Sand Hills exist in a semi-arid climatic environment and the land surface is grassland growing on sandy soils. These soils have been periodically active throughout the Holocene, but are currently stabilized by the vegetation. However, a shift in climate could cause grassland death and eventual sand dune remobilization. Our studies used the CENTURY nutrient cycling and ecosystem model to investigate the impacts of drought, plant functional type, fire, grazing, and erosion on Nebraska Sand Hills vegetation and dune stability. Fire and grazing alone had little impact on the vegetation, but when combined with mild drought, biomass decreased. Overall biomass increased if one plant functional type was allowed to dominate the ecosystem. Addition of as little as 1 mm of erosion per year under current climate conditions decreases vegetation as much as a drought 20 percent drier than the worst of the 1930s drought years in Nebraska.
AB - The Nebraska Sand Hills exist in a semi-arid climatic environment and the land surface is grassland growing on sandy soils. These soils have been periodically active throughout the Holocene, but are currently stabilized by the vegetation. However, a shift in climate could cause grassland death and eventual sand dune remobilization. Our studies used the CENTURY nutrient cycling and ecosystem model to investigate the impacts of drought, plant functional type, fire, grazing, and erosion on Nebraska Sand Hills vegetation and dune stability. Fire and grazing alone had little impact on the vegetation, but when combined with mild drought, biomass decreased. Overall biomass increased if one plant functional type was allowed to dominate the ecosystem. Addition of as little as 1 mm of erosion per year under current climate conditions decreases vegetation as much as a drought 20 percent drier than the worst of the 1930s drought years in Nebraska.
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U2 - 10.1023/B:CLIM.0000018516.53419.90
DO - 10.1023/B:CLIM.0000018516.53419.90
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:1842765703
VL - 63
SP - 49
EP - 90
JO - Climatic Change
JF - Climatic Change
SN - 0165-0009
IS - 1-2
ER -